Mavericks control Knicks without Luka Doncic and Klay Thompson, 129-114

The Dallas Mavericks returned home from a three-game road trip to play the New York Knicks on Wednesday night. Dallas was dealing with an illness that was spreading throughout the team, and several players were either sidelined or struggling.

With Luka Doncic, Klay Thompson and Daniel Gafford out, Dallas started Kyrie Irving, Quentin Grimes, Naji Marshall, PJ Washington and Dereck Lively II, while the Knicks added former Maverick Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, and Karl -Anthony Towns.

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It was a slow start offensively for both teams, with the game tied after four minutes with each team shooting 2-8 from the floor. Afterwards, Dallas woke up with thanks to Naji Marshall, who is currently playing the best basketball of his career.

The Mavericks went on a 16-2 run over the next four minutes, with Marshall outscoring the Knicks 7-6 at that point alone. New York had the second-highest offensive rating in the league with 145 points against the Nuggets on Monday, but couldn’t get much going early.

Dallas led by as many as 16 in the first quarter, but an…interesting…lineup from Jason Kidd allowed New York to cut the lead to eight. The Mavericks responded with a 5-0 run to end the quarter to take a 28-15 lead in the second quarter, capped by a three-pointer from Jazian Gortman. New York’s 15 points is the lowest first quarter score they have had all season.

The Mavericks picked up where they left off, extending the lead to 18 in the opening minutes of the second quarter with some strong minutes from Quentin Grimes. They went on another 16-2 run in the opening minutes of the second quarter, extending the lead to 24 on three-pointers from Kyrie Irving and Naji Marshall. Jalen Brunson responded with five points in a row and gave the Knicks some momentum again.

Dallas’ lead would be 15–20 for the remainder of the quarter, while they would have a 60–38 lead at halftime. This was the Knicks’ lowest-scoring first half of the season, continuing the trend from the first quarter.

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The Mavericks have already nearly blown a huge lead once in the second half, leading by 24 points against the Nuggets on Friday before Denver took a late lead, but Dallas won the game. They didn’t want to repeat the same mistakes from before, and when Karl-Anthony Towns hit back-to-back three-pointers early in the third quarter, Jason Kidd quickly called a timeout to nip any momentum in the bud.

But the Knicks continued to extend the lead, cutting it to 13 midway through the third quarter after a Josh Hart layup. Dallas responded strongly, however, and the Mavs took a 90-71 lead in the fourth quarter. It could have been a little higher if Quentin Grimes had made a layup or some free throws at the end of the quarter, but Spencer Dinwiddie kept the offense going in the quarter.

Dallas extended the lead back to 23 points early in the fourth quarter after a four-point game from Quentin Grimes. But the Knicks weren’t dead here either, cutting their lead to 14 about six minutes in when Josh Hart threw down a dunk. Then they got it back to 14 with less than four minutes left.

In the final minutes, New York finally got it down to 12, only for Dallas to still win 129-114.

It was another group effort for the Mavs in this game, with six players scoring in double figures, led by Naji Marshall with 24 points. Kyrie Irving was right behind him with 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists, and Spencer Dinwiddie was hot on his heels with 21 points and a season-high nine assists. PJ Washington had another double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, Quentin Grimes had 21 points and seven rebounds and Dereck Lively II had 12 points and nine rebounds.

The Mavericks shot the lights out in this game with a 17/33 shooting percentage from three-point range, which was probably the main reason they were able to dominate this game the way they did.

Jalen Brunson finished his return to Dallas with 337 points, Karl-Anthony Towns had 25 points and 14 rebounds in his first game against the Mavs since the Western Conference Finals, Mikal Bridges had 20 points and Josh Hart had 12. OG Anunoby had just eight Points on 3/15 shooting after scoring a career-high 40 points against Denver on Monday.

The Mavericks have a few days off before heading back to Utah to face the Jazz and make amends for their disaster from a few weeks ago.

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